‘In-body GPS’ that can help track tumours

ReMix is a wireless system that works like an “in-body GPS”. ReMix can pinpoint the location of ingestible implants inside the body using low-power wireless signals, according to researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) who developed the system in collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).In animal tests the research team, led by MIT professor Dina Katabi, demonstrated that they can track implants with centimetre-level accuracy, and said that one day similar implants could be used to deliver drugs to specific regions in the body. To test ReMix, Katabi’s group first implanted a small marker in animal tissues. To track its movement, they used a wireless device that reflects radio signals at the patient, and a special algorithm to pinpoint the exact location of the marker. The team used a wireless technology that they have previously demonstrated to detect heart rate, breathing and movement.Interestingly, the marker inside the body does not need to transmit any wireless signal. It simply reflects the signal transmitted by a device outside the body, without needing a battery or any other external source of energy.